Page 66 of Vicious Rule

This is the Alex I’m used to.

But then he falls silent again, so I say, “For the record, I’m not a fan of being taken hostage. Nobody did anything to me, but as much as I’ve enjoyed being tied up before in my life, this time wasn’t great.”

My attempt to make him smile at all that’s happened tonight fails miserably, so I turn my body to face him and take another approach. Holding his hand, I say, “I’m okay, Alex. You know, in case you were worried.”

Alex hangs his head and stays silent for a long moment before he finally whispers, “I was. Worried, that is. They knew how to hurt me the most by taking you, Sasha. All I could think about was making them pay. I wanted to sit there for hours slicing and dicing that fucker until there was nothing left, but I shot him in the leg and he was bleeding out too fast so I couldn’t punish him for taking you.”

“It’s okay now. I’m okay. I promise they didn’t do a thing to hurt me. And I was as salty as fuck the whole time. I insulted them repeatedly.”

He shakes his head but finally smiles. “Leave it to you to be the only hostage who makes the captors miserable. And here I thought that smart mouth was going to get you into trouble.”

We sit there in silence holding hands until I ask the only question I care about. “So we’re okay?”

His answer surprises me. “I don’t know. I didn’t like the way I felt when I found out they had you. It was more than worried.”

“What do you mean?”

Alex lets out a heavy sigh and says, “I didn’t like the idea of never seeing you again. I’ve never felt that about anyone in my entire life.”

“That’s a good thing.”

“I didn’t know how to deal with it. So I did the only thing I know to do.”

I’ve never heard Alex talk like this. He sounds almost pensive.

“Maybe you don’t have to deal with it. It is what it is, right?”

Nodding, he stands up to leave, surprising me. “Right. It is what it is.”

As he walks away, I say the words that have been on my mind for hours. “I love you, Alex. I knew you’d come for me tonight.”

He stops dead and doesn’t say a word for so long I’m not sure he heard me. I think about repeating myself, but he slowly turns around and I see a smile. “That’s why I didn’t know how to handle what I was feeling. Because I love you too, Sasha.”

I walk over to where he stands and wrap my arms around him, careful to watch for his shoulder. Looking into his dark eyes, I see something in them I’ve never seen in them before.

Love.

“When they took you, all I could think of was I didn’t want a world without you in it, Sasha. You’re my equal, and I’ve never thought that of anyone, man or woman. You thrill me like no one I’ve ever met. You’re all I want. All I need.”

His words fill me with happiness. Yes, he’s a madman, but there’s also this side to him, the side that adores me as much as I adore him.

“So what happens now that we love each other?” I ask, unsure what his answer to that question could be.

In usual Alex fashion, he grins and kisses me. “I’m not sure. I’ve never been in love before. It’s not bad, though. If I had known it could feel this good, I might have tried it before now.”

“Look at you. A godfather and in love all in one day.”

He pulls me to him and kisses me. “You know I’m not going to be the hearts and flowers kind of guy now, right? I’m still going to be the man I’ve always been.”

I study his gorgeous face and silently thank God he isn’t going to change. I never wanted hearts and flowers. All I ever wanted was a man who’s crazy about me and I’m crazy about him.

And if that’s not Alex Rule, I don’t know what is.

“You know, you can be you and still give me flowers sometimes,” I say with a wink.

Alex smiles and kisses me on the forehead. “I’ll remember that.”

We never had a meet-cute, and we aren’t tender in any way. That’s okay. I’m not sure what I’d do with that kind of man. I like my men hard and bad because there’s nothing better than a villain.

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